NATCHEZ — A potential development at Monmouth Plantation, which involves the rezoning of land that was supposed to be approved by the board of aldermen Tuesday, must now go back to the planning commission.

The location, 102 Melrose Ave., which backs up to Monmouth Plantation, has been requeseted by owner Ron Riches to be rezoned commercial so it can be converted to a health spa.

When the request was approved by the planning commission and went through the normal public hearing procedure, there were seven conditions that had to be followed by the applicant.

However, Riches requested to strike out the first two as null and void.

Both involved not allowing the health spa to be open to the general public.

When the request was first made, the spa was intended to only be used by Monmouth members and guests.

Riches went back and decided to open it to the general public.

City Planner John “Rusty” Lewis appeared before the board in the public hearing that was called and informed the board of the changes, but still wanted approval.

He said this was a means of expediting the process. Once the board would approve the request, it would go back before the planning commission to get approval for the conditional changes.

Lewis said this has been done before by the city, but he was met with some opposition of the process.

Alderman James “Ricky” Gray was hesitant because he felt like the procedure was being violated.

Also, when the public hearing took place through the planning commission, those who attended did not know that the spa would be open to the general public.

Gray said he feels that the public did not know the whole truth.

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said she felt the same way.

She said by opening the spa up to the public would create more traffic and nearby residents may oppose that.

“I’m just a little bit leery,” Mathis said. “I would rather see it go back through the entire process.”

The board moved to send the revised request back to the planning commission for approval before the board gives its final word.

In other business:

4 City Engineer David Gardner said the project to overlay Franklin, St. Catherine, Homochitto and Martin Luther King Jr. streets has been delayed for potentially two weeks due to the hurricane.

4 Sabrena Bartley, director of the Natchez Senior Center, gave a report on minor storm damage to the building.

4Each alderman and the mayor gave a report thanking various city and county departments — recreation, public works, police, traffic, first responders and volunteers — for a good job in handling Hurricane Gustav.

“I think we’re getting better and better each time,” Mathis said.

Finally, the board moved to recess the meeting until they meet again Sept. 15 to approve the city’s budget.